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Verbs
Verbs in Kah do not inflect for tense, gender, number. This means they have one basic form that is modified by individual constituents surrounding it. Aspect Kah has no tenses like in English. Only three aspects are marked: perfect, imperfect and future aspect, and those are indicated only when they can not be derived from the context and it is necessary to express them in order to be able to understand a sentence. The aspect markers and their independent meanings are: kwi - already, indicates the action has already taken place la - to be at, indicates the action is still taking place denu - to go, indicates an action will take place in the future kwiku - before, ever, indicates an action has ever taken place lum - about to, on the brink of, indicates an action is about to take place janja - usually, have the habit of, indicates an action usually takes place Examples of the use of these markers are: Jan kwi kwanza john already do homework John did his homework Jan la kwanza john be at do homework John is doing his homework Jan denu kwanza john go do homework John will do his homework Jan kwiku kwanza ha? john ever do homework q. Has John ever done his homework? Jan lum kwanza john about do homework John was just about to do his homework Jan janja kwanza la zekita john usually do homework John usually does his homework in the evening The fact tense is not expressed means there is no one-on-one translation possible in many cases. A sentence like uma la kiza can have various meanings in the English counterpart translation: uma la kiza mother be at eat mother is eating mother was eating mother will be eating When a sentence needs to be more specific, these markers can be combined, but this is rarely necessary: uma denu la kiza mother go be at eat mother will be eating Mood Besides the aspect markers, there are some markers expressing a number of moods: ke - intend, indicates the action could take place, "would", "how I wish" om - "let's!" "may you" indicates the wish that the action takes place tinti - should, ought to, indicates the action should be taking place, "should" ke kiza! intend eat how I would like to eat that! om denu! opt go let's go! tinti ka si tunti! should speak few surpass you should talk less! Imperative The imperative mood in Kah usually is unmarked. In written form it often is characterized by the use of an exclamation mark: wehim wa! listen me listen to me! de! come come here! In spoken language, the stress which is associated with an imperative clause tends to cause the stressed vowel to be elongated: Sometimes the imperative verb is accompanied by the focus marker lo to enhance the stress: lo wehim wa! foc listen me now, listen to me! de lo! come foc come here, now! A polite request is introduced by the verb soi which translates as please in most settings. soi wehim wa please listen me please listen to me soi nubo please enter do come in An adhortative is accompanied by the interjection oi: oi jam! adhort do well come on! oi pon dodil! adhort push doorbell ring the bell already! Conjunctive The conjunctive mood usually is introduced by the conjunctive clause marker en which is followed directly by a verbal clause: keju en wehim wa want that listen me I want you to listen to me uba ka en nong tus father say that not be permitted Father said that it was not allowed nong jo en de not know that come I don't know whether he comes Of course, when necessary, personal pronouns can be included in conjunctive phrases: nong jo en yu de not know that he come I don't know whether he comes keju en li wehim wa want that you listen me I want you to listen to me Also, the marker en may be omitted when the relation between the various clauses and their constituents is obvious: nong jo yu de not know he come I don't know whether he comes keju li wehim wa want you listen me I want you to listen to me